La Liga
ZIDANE DISTURBED BY SPECULATION ABOUT REAL MADRID FUTURE
Zinedine Zidane has admitted that constant speculation about his future as Real Madrid coach has been bothering him in the build up to Tuesday’s Champions League Group A game against Galatasaray.
Real landed in Istanbul reeling from a shock 1-0 defeat to Real Mallorca, their first loss in La Liga this season which allowed Barcelona to take over at the top of the standings.
Just as when his side were humbled 3-0 by Paris St Germain in the Champions League last month, the latest domestic defeat has led to suggestions in the Spanish media that Zidane’s job is at risk and Jose Mourinho could be in line to replace him.
“I won’t say that I’m not bothered by (the speculation), it does bother me, but all I can do is give everything and think positively,” Zidane, who has won three Champions League titles as Real coach, told a news conference on Monday.
“What has happened is in the past and in football everything you have done gets forgotten quickly, it’s what you do in the present that matters.”
The 13-time European champions are bottom of Group A with one point and defeat against Galatasaray would leave their hopes of remaining in the competition hanging in the balance.
Zidane, however, believes his team can turn things around.
“We all know we have made a bad start in the Champions League but tomorrow is a new game and we’re going to try and win,” he said.
“Every game at Real Madrid is like a final, I first came here 18 years ago (as a player) and I know what it’s like and how you are always under pressure,” added the 47-year-old.
Real captain Sergio Ramos said the players were also getting fed up of the uncertainty about Zidane’s position.
The French coach returned to the club in March 10 months after resigning from the role, after successors Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari were sacked.
“It would be very easy for the club to say Zidane will stay until the end of the season and then this speculation would end. We are tired of hearing about all the coaches that could come to Real Madrid,” Ramos said.
“We’re only focused on winning tomorrow. Everyone has a different way of measuring form but we’re relaxed, we know that if we work hard we’ll get our reward.”
Real are still without injured pair Gareth Bale and Luka Modric but Toni Kroos has returned.
-Reuters
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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